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Thursday, 31 December 2009

An hour ago I was stopped outside Heals on the King's Road by a guy collecting for the Painted Children Charity.

"Sorry," I said, "I've already given. You lot are everywhere."

This is true - they've been doing an amazing job. He was not put off, though, and in what sounded to me a heavy Slavonic accent said, "Ah, but you must give. This is your last chance."

Being insatiably curious, I asked, "Where are you from?"

"Guess," he replied.

"I looked at his name tag. "Armenia," I said.

"No," he responded. "If you cannot guess you must give £10 donation. This is last chance of year, last chance of decade. You should give."

I looked again at his name. "Georgia," I said.

"You are right," he replied.

I said, "Never mind, I'll give you some money anyhow."

"Not good English," he said, "but good at fundraising."

Giorgi - that was his name - knows that any reason, even an illogical one, is better than no reason if you want people to cough up. He understands the power of likeable persistence, and knows that people like to play games.

He knows a lot more than many people who get paid good money for charity fundraising

An hour ago I was stopped outside Heals on the King's Road by a guy collecting for the Painted Children Charity.

"Sorry," I said, "I've already given. You lot are everywhere."

This is true - they've been doing an amazing job. He was not put off, though, and in what sounded to me a heavy Slavonic accent said, "Ah, but you must give. This is your last chance."

Being insatiably curious, I asked, "Where are you from?"

"Guess," he replied.

"I looked at his name tag. "Armenia," I said.

"No," he responded. "If you cannot guess you must give £10 donation. This is last chance of year, last chance of decade. You should give."

I looked again at his name. "Georgia," I said.

"You are right," he replied.

I said, "Never mind, I'll give you some money anyhow."

"Not good English," he said, "but good at fundraising."

Giorgi - that was his name - knows that any reason, even an illogical one, is better than no reason if you want people to cough up. He understands the power of likeable persistence, and knows that people like to play games.

He knows a lot more than many people who get paid good money for charity fundraising

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The man Bird and his sad story

The CIM named Drayton one of 50 people who shaped today’s marketing.
And David Ogilvy said he “knows more about direct marketing than anyone in the world.” But don't blame him for all the crap you get sent.
He published his first novel, “Some rats run faster” when 27. Hardly anyone read this brilliant work as it had virtually no plot. 4 more books followed: “Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing” – out in 17 languages; “Salesletters that sell” & “Marketing Insights and Outrages” and "Direct Marketing for Lawyers".
He's written over 1,000 columns, spoken in 50 countries and worked with many leading brands, incl. Amex, BA, Hargreaves Lansdown, Mercedes, Microsoft, Nestle, P & G, IBM, Unilever and Visa.
In 1977, he and two partners set up Trenear-Harvey, Bird & Watson, sold in l985 to O&M. As Vice-Chairman and Creative Director, he helped O&M Direct become the world's largest DM agency network, and was elected to the worldwide Ogilvy Group board.
He now runs Drayton Bird Associates and has interests in 3 other firms. The ones he never visits do much better.
This blog shows what all that has done to his head.